Results 20,981-21,000 of 40,550 for speaker:Joan Burton

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Creation Issues (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: I refer the Deputy to my answer to his Questions Nos. 110 to 112, inclusive, of 8 May. As I stated, the Pathways to Work policy provides for more regular and on-going engagement with jobseekers to enable them to return to employment through the provision of the most appropriate support interventions. In order to increase activation capacity the Department is considering the contracting of...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Pension Provisions (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2011 provides that State pension age will be increased gradually to 68 years. This will begin in 2014 with the abolition of the State pension (transition) thereby standardising State pension age for all to 66 years. The State pension age will be further increased to 67 years in 2021 and to 68 years in 2028. For workers who retire at 65 and who cannot...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Citizen Information Services (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: Donegal Citizens Information Service (CIS) is funded through the Citizens Information Board to provide information, advice and advocacy services to the citizens of Co. Donegal. There are offices in Ballyshannon, Letterkenny, Buncrana, Carndonagh, Dungloe, Milford and Donegal Town as well as a number of outreach services. Between 2002 and February 2011, a full time information officer...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Numbers (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is not collated by my Department.

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Appeals (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was referred to an Appeals Officer on 16th May 2013, who will make a summary decision on the appeal based on the documentary evidence presented or, if required, hold an oral hearing. The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Benefits Numbers (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The total number of persons in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit at the end of April 2013 was 78,414; of this total, 13,402 had occupations in construction trade categories. A qualifying condition of the jobseeker’s benefit scheme is that all recipients must be genuinely seeking work in order to qualify for payment. The following table details the breakdown of this number by...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Domiciliary Care Allowance Eligibility (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: An application for domiciliary care allowance (DCA) was received from the person concerned on the 7th February 2012. This application was referred to one of the Department’s Medical Assessors who found that the child was not medically eligible for the allowance. A letter issued on the 5th March 2012 advising of the decision not to allow the application. The person concerned...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Consultancy Contracts Expenditure (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: Indecon International Economic Consultants were retained, following a tender process, by the Department of Social Protection in 2012 to undertake an evaluation of the JobBridge scheme. Indecon has not been retained for any other purpose. As the price submitted by Indecon was submitted as part of a competitive tender process and is considered commercially confidential, I will not disclose the...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Eligibility (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: All medical assessments and medical reviews are undertaken by fully qualified medical practitioners who have experience and specialist training/qualifications in occupational medicine as well as in human disability evaluation. Desk assessments of eligibility are based on medical reports and other evidence furnished by the applicant and the applicant’s treating physician. The assessment...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance Scheme (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The back to school clothing and footwear allowance (BSFFA) scheme provides a one-off payment to eligible families to assist with the extra costs when children start school each autumn. The Government has provided €48.8m for the scheme in 2013. The rates of BSCFA have increased significantly in recent years when viewed in the context of clothing and footwear price trends. Since...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Exceptional Needs Payment Eligibility (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance (SWA) scheme, the Department may make a single exceptional needs payment (ENP) to help meet essential, once-off and unforeseen expenditure which a person could not reasonably be expected to meet out of their weekly income. The Government has provided €47.6 million for the scheme in 2013. There is no automatic entitlement to a payment or no...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Disability Allowance Eligibility (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The person’s claim is with a social welfare investigator for a means test and a report on the person’s eligibility for disability allowance. I understand that the investigator will shortly be in contact with the person on the matter. When the investigator’s report is received by the deciding officer a decision will be made on the person’s claim and he will be...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Welfare Appeals Status (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 15th April 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by or on behalf of the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. These papers were received in the Social Welfare Appeals Office on 9th May...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Supplementary Welfare Allowance Applications (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme a crèche supplement is available to assist with the cost of child-care where there is a proven and verified on-going need due to individual circumstances, usually where a child may be in difficult circumstances, and would benefit by attending a community crèche. A crèche supplement will only be considered where a Public Health...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: State Bodies Accounts (21 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Board, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman and the Social Welfare Tribunal. Body Accounts more than 1 year Old Accounts more than 2 years Old Citizens Information Board Accounts for year ended 31/12/2011 laid in 2012 Pension Board Accounts for year...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Youth Unemployment Measures (22 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Government's primary medium-term strategy to tackle youth unemployment is to create the environment for a strong economic recovery by promoting competitiveness and productivity. Economic recovery will underpin jobs growth. Past experience suggests that youth unemployment, which tends to rise relatively rapidly in a downturn, can be expected to fall relatively rapidly during the recovery....

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Job Creation Numbers (22 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The information requested by the Deputy is not available at present. The Department holds a wide range of data collected in the process of engaging with jobseekers. These data which are held on a number of separate systems are mainly used at present to establish entitlements, to identify fraud and abuse and to advise and assist jobseekers on a pathway back to employment. The Department...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Social Insurance Issues (22 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The State pension is a very valuable benefit and is the bedrock of the Irish pension system. Therefore, it is important to ensure that those qualifying have made a sustained contribution to the Social Insurance Fund over their working lives. The homemaker’s scheme makes qualification for the State pension (contributory) easier by disregarding time spent out of the workforce for...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Fodder Crisis (22 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The farm assist scheme is based on jobseeker's allowance. It was introduced in 1999 to replace 'Smallholders Unemployment Assistance' for low income farmers, without the requirement to be available for and genuinely seeking work. Farm assist recipients retain all the advantages of the jobseeker's allowance scheme such as retention of secondary benefits and access to activation programmes. ...

Written Answers — Department of Social Protection: Invalidity Pension Appeals (22 May 2013)

Joan Burton: The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 5th March 2013. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the case in question will be referred to an Appeals Officer who will make...